THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Sylvius, Ragusa, and Segovia). Consult J. Lenfant, Hisloire de la guerre des Hussites et du Concile de Basle, Amsterdam, 1731; I. H. von Wessenberg, Die grossen Kirchenversammlungen des funfzehnten und sechszehnlen Jahrhunderts, vol. ii, 4 vols., Constance, 1840; J. Aschbach, Geschichte des Kaiser Sigmunds, vol. iv, Hamburg, 1845; G. Voigt, Enca Sylvio Piccolomini als Papst Paul II, vol. i, Basel, 1S56; O. Richter, Organisation und Geschaflsordnung des Basler Concils, Leipsic, 1877; A. Bachmann, Die dtutsche Kunige und die kurfiirstliche Neutralitat, Vienna, 1SSS; P. Joachimsohn, Gregor Heimburg, Munich, 1891; J. F. Hurst, History of the Christian Church, i, 785- 7S6, ii, 69, 93, 341, New York, 1897-1900; Hefele, Conciliengetchichte, vol. vii; KL, i, 2085-2110; Pastor, Popes, i, 2S0-33S; Creighton, Papacy, iii, 1-45.
BASHAN, be'shan: The northeastern part of trans-Jordanic Palestine. The name occurs in the Old Testament in prose and sometimes in poetry with the article (" the Bashan "), indicating that bashan was originally a -common noun, and its signification is made evident by the Arabic bathanah, " a fertile plain free from stones." The Greeks had the name in the forms Basan, Basanaitis, the LXX has Balanitis, and Josephus Batanaia and Batanea (cf . Eusebius and Jerome, Onomasticon). The location of the district is clearly noted in the Old Testament as the northern third of the plateau to the east of the Jordan (Deut. iii, 8; Joshua xiii, 11-12), with Gilead (the Yarmuk) as the southern boundary, Hermon on the north, and Salcah on the east.
As soon as the traveler going east from the Sea of Tiberias crosses the Nahr-al-Allan, eighteen miles away, he may note the abrupt change of the structure of the plain. The numerous hillocks, a peculiarity of the Jaulan, disappear, as do the great lava blocks, and in their place one sees a great plain of mellowed, red-brown, fertile soil stretching away east, north, and south. The boundary of this on the northeast is the volcanic, wooded heights of Al-Kunetra and the base of Mt. Hermon, on the north the district of Wadi al-Ajam, on the east the Lejjah and Jebel Druz or Jebel Hauran, and on the south the plateau of Al-Hamad, with the stony Jaulan in the west. It is divided by two great wadies (Dahab and Zadi), which empty into the Yarmuk. Ruins abound, and on some of the hillocks are the graves of the former leaders and chiefs of the districts.
The spongy, easily worked soil is a mixture of disintegrated lava, ashes, and sand from Jebel Hauran. To this composition is due the extraordinary fertility of the region, yielding half crops even in seasons of drought. The plain is almost treeless, the only exceptions being the old terebinths which stand by Arabic holy-places or vilages. The slope of the southern part, which is the granary of Syria, is quite sharp from east to west, while from north to south the altitude is about the same. The boundaries already noted (the steppe of Hamad and the Druz mountains) are prominent. The last are the " Salmon " of Ps. lxviii, 14- 15. The region formed part of the kingdom of Og (Joshua xii, 5). It is celebrated in the Old Testament for its cattle (Deut. xxxii, 14; Ezek. xxxix, 18), and in those times probably served better a pastoral than a nomadic population. The " oaks of Bashan " (Isa. ii, 13; Ezek. xxvii, 6) have disap-
peared except on the foothills of the Hauran and Hermon mountains, where there are small groves, and along the Yarmuk.
The following cities of Bashan are mentioned in the Old Testament: (1 and 2) Ashtaroth and Edrei, capitals of Og (Deut. i, 4, iii, 1; Joshua xii, 4); (3) Ashteroth Karnaim (Eusebius and Jerome, Onomasticon), not far from Job's grave [an Arab sanctuary], and near Shaikh Sad, until 1903 the seat of government; (4) Bozrah (I Mace, v, 26), at the southwest of the Hauran, containing ruins dating from Roman times; (5) Golan (Joshua xxi, 7), one of the Levitical cities of refuge, probably the modern Saham al-Jolan on the western edge of the plateau; (6) Karnain (I Mace, v, 26, perhaps Amos vi, 13, A. V. " horns "), not located; (7) Salcah, modern Salkhad, east from Bozrah, on the watershed, with a castle built in an old crater. These places are all on the edge of the plateau, as are the modern cities.
The Old Testament mentions also the district Argob in Bashan, which had sixty cities (I Kings iv, 13; Deut. iii, 4), a possession of Jair (Deut. iii, 14, but cf. Judges x, 3 sqq., I Kings iv, 13), and in the eastern part of the Jaulan. (H. Guthe.)
Bibliography: J. L. Porter, Giant-Cities of Bashan, New York, 1871; id., Five Years in Damascus, London, 1855; J. G. Wetstein, Reisebericht uber Hauran und die Trachonen, Berlin, 1860; idem, Das batanaische Giebelbirge, Leipsic, 1884; C. J. M. de Vogiie\ La Syrie cenlrale, inscriptions semitiques, 2 vols., Paris, 1868-77; R. F. Drake and C. F. T. Drake, Unexplored Syria, 2 vols., London, 1872; G. Schumacher, Across the Jordan, pp. 20-40, 103-242, ib. 1886; idem, The Jaulan, p. 125, ib. 1888; idem, Das tiidliche Basan zum ersten Male aufgenommen und beschrieben, Leipsic, 1897; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 3 vols., New York, 1886; F. Buhl, Geographie von Palastina, Freiburg, 1896; G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, pp. 542, 549-553, 575 sqq., 611 sqq., London, 1897; D. W. Freshfield, The Stone Towns of Central Syria, New York, n.d.
BASHFORD, JAMES WHITFORD: Methodist Episcopal bishop; b. at Fayette, Wis., May 25, 1849. He was educated at the University of Wisconsin (B.A., 1873), the Theological School of Boston University (B.D., 1876), the School of Oratory in the same institution (1878), and Boston University (Ph.D., 1881). He was tutor in Greek at the University of Wisconsin in 1873-74, and held successive pastorates at Harrison Square Methodist Episcopal Church, Boston (1875-78), Jamaica Plain, Boston (1878-81), Auburndale, Mass. (1881- 84), Chestnut Street, Portland, Me. (1884-87), and Delaware Ave., Buffalo, N. Y. (1887-89). He was president of Ohio Wesleyan University in 1889-1904, and in the 'atter year was chosen bishop, and in this capacity went to Shanghai, China. In theology he is distinctly liberal, believing that Christianity can be better interpreted from the point of view of evolution than from the older standpoint, and being confident that higher criticism, if used with sound scholarship, will not endanger the fundamentals of Christianity. He has written: Science of Religion (Delaware, O., 1893); Wesley and Goethe (Cincinnati, 1903); and Methodism in China (1906).
BASIL OF ACHRIDA: Archbishop of Thessalonica. He came from Achrida (on the n.e. shore